WEST BLOOMFIELD (MI) -- Back in January of 2007, I wrote a “From the Swamp” piece entitled “Things are not always what they seem” about my email communications with the operator of a HS recruiting website. The site in question had written some negative reviews on UD recruit Devin Searcy and I took exception to them with the author, a guy named Christian Vaughn.

That column has unfortunately vanished into the ether, as have my emails to/from Vaughn. When the latest college recruiting scandal broke, I read about the agent in the middle of it all named Christian Dawkins. He was from Saginaw and his dad is Lou Dawkins, the former Michigan HS player and coach.

Then I saw his mother’s name: Latricia Vaughn-Dawkins

Holy crap!Christian Dawkins is the same guy I had swapped emails with a half-dozen times back in 2007!

Here’s the kicker:At the time Vaughn/Dawkins was himself only a HS freshman!

My column quoted heavily from our email correspondence, in which Christian said he would have to see Searcy play again in order to change what he had written. He later asked me if I would be willing to do some game recaps for his supposed scouting service. Eventually I was able to expose the Vaughn/Dawkins charade, thanks to two AAU coaches Spencer Pulliam and Greg Russell. Fortunately, my emails from them have survived. Here are the highlights:

Jim:

My name is Spencer Pulliam and I am the owner/lead scout of Generation Next Basketball scouting service. I came across your article/blog posted on January 5th, 2007 that mentioned Devin Searcy and "scout" Christian Vaughn. I thought you would find it interesting that Christian is a 14-year-old high school freshman with his own "scouting service". In fact if you explore his site I believe that you will find he has ranked himself among the elite freshman across the nation and in the state of Michigan.

Take care and the best of luck with the continued success of your blog.

Spencer Pulliam

Jim:

Thank you for writing this article. I am an AAU coach from Detroit and I have been reading this B.S. for a very long time. I am not sure if you know or not but Christian Vaughn is only in the ninth grade. He is talking about kids that would dominate him in any basketball game. I just wanted to say thanks for the article and good luck with Devin he is a great kid who will fit in just fine with former MSU coach BG!

Greg Russell

So, given all the above is it any surprise that Vaughn/Dawkins would be at the center of the swirling college recruiting nightmare?